Chapter 10 - Premodern Humans Flashcards
Middle Pleistocene
The portion of the Pleistocene epoch beginning 780,000 ya and ending 125,000 ya.
Late Pleistocene
The portion of the Pleistocene epoch beginning 125,000 ya and ending approximately 10,000 ya.
Glaciations
Climatic intervals when continental ice sheets cover much of the northern continents. Glaciations are associated with colder temperatures in northern latitudes and more arid condi-tions in southern latitudes, most notably in Africa.
Interglacials
Climatic intervals when continental ice sheets are retreating, eventually becoming much reduced in size. Interglacials in northern latitudes are associated with warmer tempera-tures, while in southern latitudes the climate becomes wetter.
What was found at Kabwe (Broken Hill) in Zambia?
Heidlebergensis skull. The skull itself was estim 130k ya Dating estimates of Kabwe hill were about 600k - 125k ya. Heidlebergensis were found between 850kya -200kya. we rec-ognize H. heidelbergensis as a transitional species between H. erectus and later hominins ( that is, primarily H. sapiens).p256
Bodo is another important find why?
A near-ly complete cranium, Bodo has been dated to relatively early in the Middle Pleistocene ( estimated at 600,000 ya), making it one of the oldest specimens of H. heidelbergensis from the African continent. Likely evidence of butchering.
Dali (china) ?
Nearly complete skull; best evidence of H. heidelbergensis in A sia. 230,000– 180,000 ya
Jinniushan ( China)
200k ya. Partial skeleton with cranium showing relatively large brain size; some C hinese scholars suggest it as possible ancestor of early Chinese H. sapiens
Chatelperronian
Pertaining to an Upper Paleolithic industry found in France and Spain, containing blade tools and associated with Neandertals.
La Chapelle (france)
Most famous Neandertal site; historically provided early, but distorted, interpretation of N eandertals. 50k ya
True or False? Premodern humans from the Middle Pleistocene show similari-ties both with their predecessors ( H. erectus) and with their suc-cessors ( H. sapiens). They’ve also been found in many areas of the Old World— in Africa, Asia, and Europe.
True
True or False? Most paleoanthropologists call the majority of Middle Pleistocene fos-sils H. heidelbergensis. Similari-ties between the African and Euro-pean Middle Pleistocene hominin samples suggest that they all can be reasonably seen as part of this same species, but contemporane-ous Asian fossils don’t fit as neatly into this model.
True
True or False? Some of the later H. heidelber-gensis populations in Europe like-ly evolved into Neandertals, and abundant Neandertal fossil and archaeological evidence has been collected from the Late Pleistocene time span of Neandertal existence, about 130,000– 30,000 ya.
True
True or False? Neandertals are more geographi-cally restricted than earlier pre-moderns and are found in Europe, southwest Asia, and central Asia.
True
True or False? Neandertals have been considered quite distinct from modern H. sapiens, but recent genetic evi-dence confirms that some inter-breeding took place between these hominins ( likely 80,000– 50,000 years ago).
True
